Ponies of the Spark Republic
by ChocolateMocha0
Summary: Ten years have passed since the malevolent unicorn mare turned Equestria into the Spark Republic, everypony either brainwashed or too afraid to try and stop her. But a team known as the Resistance, led by a fearless Pegasus named Brevity Thrash, aren't so afraid and will stop at nothing to end Spark's reign once and for all. OCs aren't being accepted at this time.
1. Chapter 1

**Decided to do a new fic, this time, a rather grimdark, action/adventure one. Why? A friend of mine dared me to do a darker, more actiony kinda fanfic for MLP:FiM. In this case, it takes place ten years in the future, where a team of ponies is strugling to bring down the Spark Republic, the majority of Equestria ruled by a now malevolent unicorn with a heart of cold black stone that they use to call one of their best friends.**

**WARNING! Before you read, this fic contains light to extreme violence and some vulgar language! If you don't like that kind of thing, leave NOW! You have been warned...**

"Let me go! Let me OUT, you _brutes_!"

The yellow Pegasus yelled out angrily into the darkness, endlessly straining to pull her hooves free of the shackles that chained her to the brick wall. The metal cuffs were chafing at her hooves due to the struggle, but she didn't care, she HAD to escape.

Suddenly, a red aura dimly lit up the small room as the large steel door swung open, spilling light into the room. The Pegasus couldn't help but stop briefly to shield her eyes from the brightness before the unicorn stepped in, slamming the door behind her.

The Pegasus couldn't see the mare, but she knew who it was. She was a tall, dark purple unicorn with scarlet red eyes and a heart of cold, black stone. After what felt like eternity, she began to speak in a low, frighteningly calm and collected tone.

"Ah, how's my favourite prisoner doing here?" She rose a hoof and pushed the Pegasus mare's chin up to face her, infuriating her even further.

"I know what you're up to, Spark! Now let me go before somepony gets hurt!"

But an amused laugh arose in the darkness as a reply. "Oh, puh-leez! If anypony'll end up hurt,"-she got nose-to-nose with the infuriated Pegasus-"it'll be you!"

The mare forced herself to suppress a growl and thoughtlessly pulled one hoof back to strike the unicorn in the face, until the chain abruptly stopped her about halfway, giving her the sensation of her wrist being broken. She let out a pained yell as Spark only laughed triumphantly.

"Don't even _try, _Brevity Thrash, you are no threat to me. And even if you were, I've got all of Equestria on _my side!" _Another laugh rose from the unicorn that sounded as if it'd echo all throughout Equestria. Brevity wished she could do something, but only let out an explosive sigh and the reminder that she was helpless.

"And because of your little, er…'attack' there, I believe your time is up!"

Brevity was taken aback. "My time is up? What're you….wait a second. No…no! I won't let you do this! I knew you were a heartless brute but I never thought you would…!"

"Oh, Brevity, for as long as you've known me, I'm sure you'd know that I don't like to see ponies dead or being killed….I like to watch them _suffer!" _The Pegasus was startled at the abrupt threatening tone in Spark's voice, but she stopped herself before she retorted again, fearing it'd only make matters worse.

"Now then, any last words, Brevity Thrash?"

There was a long pause before she spoke up again. "Yes, yes there is. What _happened _to you?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, I—I mean….this isn't _you! _Don't you remember? It was only ten years, but it feels like thousands. You…you were my best friend; the same went for Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie! But-But now….you're treating us all look you would all these random, more unimportant Equestrian ponies! You take us in as your prisoners, and the next thing we know, you're trotting into our cells, ready to finally end our lives. Or at least _wish _you would end our lives." She didn't even notice that a few tears were beginning to brim her dark teal eyes.

"I—I miss you, Spark…oh, to Hell with that! You're _not _Radiant Spark, you're—you're Twilight Sparkle, to me at least. And you always will be! Don't try to hide behind your armour and your new tyrant demeanour and try to fool everypony into thinking you're a whole 'nother pony! Because you're _not!"_—she paused to take a deep breath—"I-I use to be afraid of you, just like everypony else. Hell, I use to be afraid of, well, _everything! _But not anymore, Twi, this _is _a whole new pony.

"I know you're not as threatening as you make yourself out to be, and you _won't _kill me or harm me or whatever it is you're planning on doing! That's why you didn't touch Rainbow, Rarity, Pinkie, or AJ, because you don't have the strength! You don't have the strength to do it because you know we're your _friends! _Or we use to be at least."

There was a long pause after Brevity's sudden outburst. The unicorn that towered over her only glared at the floor, a slight look of the pony she use to know flashing in her eyes. Maybe she was fighting the inner demon that caused her to be like this?

She abruptly grimaced before turning her gaze, a cold, infuriated gaze, on the slightly smaller Pegasus sitting beneath her. But her tone was the opposite of her expression; it was an emotion Brevity couldn't quite put. Hate? Love? Pain? Fear?

"No….n-no! You—You're wrong!"

Before Brevity had a chance to react, Twilight, or the pony that used to be Twilight, turned away and thoughtlessly bucked her powerfully in the head. Due to lying against a strong wall, it made the agony a whole lot worse.

Brevity cried out in pain, gasping painfully as scarlet red blood leaked from her broken jaw and her nose. She shakily touched her face with a hoof, letting out a frightened gasp at the splotch of red that'd appeared on her light yellow fur.

She turned fearfully, only to abruptly get bucked again, with all the strength the unicorn had. And again, and again, and again. "I—I won't let you get to me! I _won't! _I'm more powerful than you are! I'm powerful than anypony in Equestria!"

With one last kick, her ear twitched slightly as the Pegasus pony's pained, incoherent moans and whimpers abruptly faded to silence with a final, sickening crunch.

She dropped her hind hooves to the floor, both soaked and turned a deep red with blood, as she turned briefly to look at the mare. Her body had fallen limply to the concrete floor, leaving a rather large splatter of red on the wall where she'd originally been leaning against. But upon grabbing one mangled shoulder to flip the Pegasus onto her back, the result was a lot more gruesome than she'd originally expected.

Her face was totally unrecognizable, crushed, splattered and streaked with the scarlet substance, greyish pink brain matter leaking out through the gashes and crevices. One eye was mangled and hanging out of the disfigured socket by a nerve. The other remained in the socket, but was also misshapen and sunken in.

Her chest and forelegs were crushed in and disfigured as well, soaked with blood as it poured from the obviously lethal head trauma she'd acquired. A number of ribs and bones in her forelegs were visibly shattered as she'd thoughtlessly bucked her a little lower than she'd intended to, as she couldn't see her when she was doing so.

Twi suppressed the urge to gag and vomit onto the floor and hastily turned away, shuddering as she attempted to push the image to the back of her mind and leave it there.

_I—I didn't mean to do that…_

"Yes! Yes, you _did! _She's not your friend anymore, just another one of those little brutes out to get you! Out to take you down!" She barely noticed that she was furiously arguing with herself; her old, caring and friendly self that still dwelled in her thoughts.

"Um, Ms. Spark, are—are you alright?"

She gasped, having failed to hear the light grey Pegasus trotting to the doorway. Even half-cybernetic, the curious tone in the young mare's voice failed to bring back memories of their old times together.

"Yes!"—she spoke in a slightly more forceful tone than intended—"I mean, y-yes, Ditzy Doo, I'm perfectly _fine._" She began to trot out, and as she left, pointed behind her with a hoof, "Clean this up for me, will you?"

"Aw, but I thought _I _was suppose to do the executing!"

Spark only rolled her eyes in disgrace, "Just get over there! I can't have a mutilated corpse lying there for long; it'll begin to stink up the place!" And without another word, she trotted away. But upon glancing at the sight in front of her, Ditzy couldn't help but feel a few tears begin to form in her regular eye, before shakily entering to do as Spark had instructed her.

**Yes, Ditzy Doo IS Derpy Hooves (I don't think the name "Derpy" really fits the dark, serious tone of this fic), and despite being dragged into Spark's malevolent reign, she still has a touch of sympathetic feeling for the pony's Spark keeps on instructing her to murder, or at least painfully harm. But don't worry, Derpy's actually a more of a protagonist here than she's made out to be in this chapter.**

**Sorry about the whole graphic description of the aftermath of "Brevity Thrash's" murder, I just...somewhat felt it was a good touch, kinda. I'm not easy to disgust, but some other people might be, so I'll try to not make descriptions of murders, especially gory ones like this, so graphic next time, okay? **

**Now, PLEASE don't flame me for this! Like I said, a friend of mine wanted me to do a grimdark fic, and I thought it'd be interesting, so yeah. Here ya go. PLEASE DO NOT FLAME AND PLEASE DON'T HATE ME FOR THIS!**

**BTW, does anyone think they know who Brevity Thrash is? 'Brevity Thrash' is a nickname I gave a canon MLP character (got the name from a pic I saw on DeviantART) to make her sound more, well, threatening really. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Before I begin this chapter, I'm planning on maybe adding in some OCs in later chapters, with full credit of course. So, if you wish for me to add in your OC in the story at some point in time, then please fill this out in the reviews:**

_**Name: (their name, duh!)**_

_**Race: (Pegasus, unicorn, Earth, etc.)**_

_**Age: (mare/stallion, colt/filly, etc.)**_

_**Appearance: (give a brief, but specific, description of his/her appearance, such as coat color, mane color, eye color, scars/injuries, any accessories, stuff like that)**_

_**Personality: (how they regularly act or react to certain things, certain situations, or other ponies)**_

_**Like(s): (what or who do they like)**_

_**Dislike(s): (what or who DON'T they like)**_

_**Spark Republic or the Resistance?: (there's two sides in this fic: the Spark Repulic, the antagonists who're ruled by Twilight Sparkle, and the Resistance, the protagonists and were formerly led by Fluttershy)**_

_**Current/Future Status: (are they currently living, dead, missing, etc. or will they be dead, missing, etc. etc. later on in the fic?)**_

_**Occupation: (what do they or did they do for a living?)**_

_**Picture: (this is optional; if there's a pic of your OC, please give me a link to it here, but if not, then feel free to leave this one blank)**_

**Now, please note that I probably won't add in ALL of the OCs that get suggested to me, I'll probably pick the first one suggested, then the second one, and so on. But since this isn't a totally OC story, I'll probably add in about 5-10 OCs at a most, or at least for certain parts of the fic. But if you're wondering why your OC hasn't been added in, feel free to note me about it.**

**And feel free to add in additional information about your OC, it'll give me a better idea of what this pony is like and will help to make their character more accurate when I write about them in the fic here.**

**Alright, read on!**

"Dinky, you can't!" The Pegasus grabbed the unicorn's blonde tail in her teeth, stopping her in her tracks. "Why would you wanna take such a risk in the first place?" Dinky let out a sigh. "Because, Scoot, she's stolen everything from me! Now, it's time for her to _pay!"_

"But, Dinky Doo, if you try and fight her, you might as well be committing suicide! Sure, you lost your whole family to her, but…is it really worth _dying _for?"

Dinky pulled her tail free of Scootaloo's grip with an angry snort, glaring coldly at her, "Yes,it _is! _She imprisoned my father and _killed _my mother and older sister! Isn't _that _reason enough?! And Brevity went alone and she hasn't died, why not me?"

"Okay, so Derpy and Sparkler are dead, so what? At least they don't have to suffer the way everypony in Equestria is suffering as we speak! You should be happy for them."

"_No, _I shouldn't! _You _of all ponies should know how I'm feeling! When I was abandoned by my biological parents, I was found by Derpy and she took me in! I knew she wouldn't do the same thing and she would care for me and love me like my real parents _should've _done! The Queen has _no right _to take that away from me!"

Almost subconsciously, she lifted her hind legs off of the floor and bucked a vase as hard as she could, causing to skid a few inches before toppling over and shattering into many colorful shards.

"Dinky Doo, _calm down!"_

"No, Scoots, I'm done! _Done! _To _Hell _with calming down! To _Hell _with sitting back and doing nothing as Equestria crashes and burns all around us!"

"Dinky…"

"No! _No! _If you wanna sit there and watch Twilight _win, _so be it! You're _just like_ everyone else! I thought we were here to _save _Equestria, not sit back and watch TV or play around all day! I don't know about you, but _I'm _taking action, and I'm taking it _now!"_

"Dinky Doo!"

Before she get much further, the orange mare grabbed ahold of her and thoughtlessly threw her to the wall, holding her down with all the strength she had, but the unicorn's infuriated writhing and shouting didn't help her too much.

"Let me go! Let…me…_go!"_

"Dinky, calm the buck down! I know you're upset about Derpy and Sparkler and Doctor Whooves, but acting crazy _won't help!"_ But another angry growl rose from the enraged lavender unicorn, but her struggles finally seemed to begin to die down.

"Let me go, Scootaloo! I don't wanna hurt you, Scoots, but I swear to the spirit of Princess Celestia that I _will _if you don't back the buck off!"

"Dinky, just cool it! Alright?! I never said I disagreed with your plan!"

"Yes, you did! Remember…?"

"No, I _didn't! _I just don't want you going alone, you will _die _out there, I know it! Brevity was a strong mare compared to how she was _before _Twi took over, but you're not! You're still young and won't stand a single _chance _against the Queen alone!"

After a short while, Dinky's struggles finally began to die down until she stopped completely, staring down at the floor solemnly. "Well, if I die, at-at least I'll get to see mom and Sparkler again…"

The Pegasus noticed a barely visible glisten in one the unicorn's light yellow eyes, and with a low sigh herself, finally let her go, Dinky brushing off her mildly bruised and battle-scarred coat.

"I-I'm sorry, Dinky Doo, I—I know you miss 'em, we all know. But we've lost so many ponies already, we can't let you do this! We don't want to lose another life, Dinky, especially not the life of one of the most caring unicorns here!"

It was true, before all this started, Dinky was so anti-fighting and anti-war and, like all of them, only wanted to see the Spark Republic crash and burn right in front of their eyes. But due to the heavy loss of her entire adoptive family and the total loss of any magical power she had after her horn was blasted off two years ago, she seemed to change in personality entirely.

Now, she was almost as brutal as Queen Twilight and her followers; the others had to keep an eye on her at almost every turn to make sure she wasn't making a break for it to get her final, very much needed revenge on the pony who started it all.

Dinky didn't respond, only glared at the floor, wiping an eye with a hoof, but suddenly, a voice alerted them from the nearby corridor, catching both the mares' attention. "Dinky Doo, Scootaloo, come quick!" An off-white Earth stallion, slightly smaller than the mares, bounded in through the doorway, his coat soaked with a cold sweat and gasping in exhaustion.

"Pipsqueak!" Dinky almost immediately galloped towards her coltfriend, resting a comforting hoof on his shaky shoulder. "What happened? Are you okay, are you hurt anywhere?"

Scootaloo rolled her eyes; one second, she was ready to throw her to the Spark Republic, but once Pip came bounding in, she was the most loving pony you'd ever meet. "No…n-no, I'm fine, Dink. I-It's just that…c-c'mere! I—I need to show you guys something!"

Without another word, he trotted away, and after exchanging unnerved glances, the mares hesitantly followed close behind him to the entrance of their underground hide-out. Pip stood aside as the mares exchanged brief glances before resting their hooves on two pads on either side of the large steel door simultaneously.

_Identification confirmed._

The door slid open with an audible hum, revealing the stretch of land outside, many destroyed buildings dotting it and dust settling in the air. The sky was red-orange, dotted with red tinted pale yellow clouds, as if the blood shed in the Spark Republic had stained the skies of Equestria as well. This was the small town the young ponies use to call their home.

This use to be Ponyville.

Suddenly, a horrified scream startled Scootaloo out of her trance, glancing at a mortified looking Dinky Doo, the unicorn shakily backing away. Her eyes were huge with terror and two hooves covered her mouth to suppress screaming anymore. Scootaloo uneasily followed her gaze and was forced to almost immediately look away to prevent vomiting at the sight.

At the doorway lied the mangled body of Brevity Thrash, their trusted leader. The blood covering her body and pooling beneath her almost made the yellow mare unrecognizable to anypony.

"S-See?" Pip spoke up, a frightened tone inn his voice.

There was a long pause, before Scootaloo finally crouched to floor, staring tearfully at the mare, "Br-Brevity…" She hesitantly crawled forwards and embraced her body ever so slightly, the red blood from her gruesome injuries staining her orange coat. "F-Fluttershy…"

This time, Dinky finally forced herself to speak up, "H-How…wh-what…?"

"Featherweight just…found her like this." Pip replied. "There—There's no way she could've already been like this before she came here, a-and the security alarm would've gone off if it had detected anypony from the Republic on our territory."

He glanced briefly down at Scootaloo, grieving over the pony who use to be one of her close friends other than Applebloom and Sweetie Belle. The mare had practically treated her as if she were her own foal when Scoots was still an orphaned filly before Rainbow Dash took her under her wing.

"I—I can't believe…sh-she was one of Tw-Twi's best friends…wh-why would she…wh-why would she…?"

"I can't say, Scoots, I really can't. I don't know _what _happened, the Queen probably murdered her and then dropped the mutilated corpse here as—as…maybe a warning, I guess? But she usually just sends us these 'sympathetic' letters to inform that one of our own has died."

Dinky stared at Pip briefly before turning to Scootaloo, "_This, _Scootaloo, is why I wanted to take action and get this all over with."

"What?!" Pip turned his shocked gaze onto his marefriend, who returned a rather confused expression.

"Dink, are you _insane?! _Don't you see what happened to Brevity? If you go, next thing we know, boom! Your body's returning in the same condition…y'know, if there's any body left to return."

"No, Pipsqueak…"

They both turned to Scootaloo, who finally let go Fluttershy's body and turned to them sadly, unnerving them slightly with her red stained chest and forelegs.

"No…I—I thought the same thing, b-but…Dinky's right. If we keep 'planning' our attack or whatever method we're going to use to take care of this, we'll never get a chance to save what's left of Equestria that there is to save! By the time we're done, Equestria will be too far gone. Ponyville's one of the last refuges in the nation that hasn't been claimed by the Spark Republic yet, it's time we _fight!"_

"But, Scoots, do you even know what you're saying? The capital of the Republic is all the way in the Crystal Kingdom! Remember, after the Crystal Heart was destroyed, the ponies were forced to flee so that the Crystal Empire was hers for the taking!"

"So what? We can trot or fly or whatever a few hundred miles, it's not _that _much of a penalty! Especially when it's for the fate of Equestria and all the ponies who live in it!"

"But you don't _understand, _Scootaloo, neither do you, Dinky. That _is _only a 'few hundred miles', but a few hundred miles of Spark territory and ponies that'll wipe each and every one of us right off the face of the earth without a second thought!"

"I don't care," the Pegasus responded determinedly. "Pipsqueak, tell everypony to get their weapons and everything else ready. We're going out…_tomorrow!"_ Pip's eyes widened in shock. "Tommorow?!" But she didn't reply, only trotted away from the entrance before vanishing deeper into the sector.

Once she was gone, Dinky glanced solemnly at Fluttershy's body, not noticing she found herself staring silently for what felt like an eternity.

"Dinky, snap out of it!"

"H-Huh?"

"Do—Do you really think Scoots' got the right idea?"

Dinky only shrugged slightly, "Just to think, _before _you showed up, Scootaloo attacked because _I _was the thinking the same thing! I think it might work, we've still got the rest of the day ahead of us to get ready for the battle of the century!"

"But, Dinky Doo…"

"Don't _worry, _Pipsqueak, we _will _win this! I won't let us lose, and neither will Scootaloo!" She gently pecked him on his cheek before stepping over the corpse and grabbing its bloody scruff firmly in her jaws.

"Wait, where're you going?"

"To the river to dispose of her body, we can't just leave her here, y'know."

And without another word, Dinky backed away, dragging the Pegasus limply along with her, leaving a dark red trail as they went. It wasn't long before she reached the edge of the Everfree Forest just behind Fluttershy's old cottage. She stopped at the water's edge and glanced up sadly at the old abandoned cottage Fluttershy use to call her home.

It looked so lonely without the sound of animals always keeping the cottage alive or the skittish yellow mare fluttering throughout it to feed each and every one of them, always wearing a calm and collected smile on her face.

Before Twilight took over, she never really knew Fluttershy other than the fact she was the shy animal caretaker of Ponyville. But upon the beginning of this apocalypse, they grew a strong bond as Fluttershy, renaming herself Brevity Thrash to give herself a more threatening demeanor as the leader of the Resistance, employed herself and Scootaloo as her second-in-command.

Before Dinky lost her horn, she had excessive magical power, almost as good as Twilight. Scootaloo, despite being a totally flightless Pegasus, born with a disability that rendered her wings useless, was quite a fighter herself, despite failing to have any great physical strength.

Shortly after Twilight took over, that was the end of Fluttershy's shy, frightened reputaton. In a brief matter of days, she went from pushover Fluttershy to a fearless leader known as Brevity Thrash. The day, only a couple of days ago, that Fluttershy left the Resistance to take down Twilight on her own was the last time anypony ever saw her alive.

With a solemn sigh, Dinky turned sadly to the mare at her hooves, wincing at the blank look in her glassy, sightless teal eye. "I-I'm sorry this had to happen to you, old friend." And without another word, she gently pushed her body into the rushing water, nosing one hoof that refused to leave the land in behind her.

This was what they did with ponies that died. Gently rested their bodies into the river and watched them until the water washed them away forever. Fluttershy had said the water helps to wash away the fear, the pain, the grief, and any other negative feelings from their body and soul. Pulling the body away with the water allowed them to leave the horrifying sights and sounds and the old life they use to live behind them for eternity.

"_That way, after a pony dies, they can go to the afterlife and dwell there for eternity in peace and harmony, like Equestria once was." The yellow mare gently rested a wing over the devastated unicorn as she stared down tearfully at the body of Ruby Pinch, an old fillyhood friend of hers, and she still was._

"_But—But I don't want to do this…I—I can't…"_

"_Yes, you can, Dinky Doo. I know Ruby use to be one of your best friends in Equestria, but…it-it's her time, Dinky. In our time, it'd be disrespectful to just bury a pony and leave it like that." With a sniff, Dinky wiped her eyes and shakily looked up at Fluttershy, who forced a warm smile down at her._

"_O-Okay, Flutters, i-if that's what you believe at least." She glanced back at the still Ruby who lied at their hooves. "G-Goodbye, Ruby Pinch, you—you were always a great fighter and…a-and we'll al miss you very, very much."_

_Closing her eyes solemnly, she gently nosed her into the water and the two watched silently as the purplish red unicorn was washed away along with the rushing water before vanishing through the trees._

The memory went through Dinky's head as if it were new; Ruby was one of the first ponies among the Resistance to die, only eight years ago. Even in her strong, more aggressive form, Fluttershy still had the old loving hint of her old self lingering.

With a sad sigh, she turned and trotted away; if she was gone for much longer, everypony would be fretting one of Twilight's Killers got ahold of her. The Killers were some of Twi's followers whom she brainwashed and released into Equestria to kill anypony and everypony who _wasn't _on their side, no exceptions.

But as she passed by the cottage, she couldn't help but glance at it, curiosity getting to her. What did the cottage look like after Flutters thoughtlessly abandoned it ten years ago? After pausing for an eternity, she finally trotted towards it and shakily grabbed the knob, pushing it open.

It was unlocked.

A wave of heat and pounds of dust wafted out at her upon opening the door, causing her to jump back and cough as if she were choking to death. Fanning the dust away from her, she hesitantly poked her head in. The old furniture was dry rotting and clearly ripped apart, a few bitemarks here and there.

_Poor things, they got so hungry they tried to eat anything they could get their paws on._

She uneasily stepped in, the wooden floors were totally blanketed in greyish brown dust that stuck to her hooves with every step. Flipping the light switch, the light flickered briefly before lighting up dimly. At least it was something. What she saw among the old house though horrified her.

All over the place lied old, blackened skeletons, some with rotting flesh still hanging off. None of them had entirely decomposed quite yet. On the walls hung many framed pictures, so thick with dust they were almost unrecognizable.

Stepping up to one, the floor creaking beneath her hooves, she blew onto it, causing the dust to fly everywhere, onto the floor, onto the walls, onto her coat, into her eyes. Again, she coughed, frantically trying to rub the dust off of her. Once her vision was cleared, she looked at the picture.

It depicted the young yellow mare with a taller dark orange mare with a long red-purple mane and tail, pulling her daughter close lovingly with a wing. She raised an eyebrow. _That mare reminds a lot of Scootaloo. _She thought.

But before she could investigate anymore, a pained whining noise alerted her, nearly scaring her out of her skin. She would've took to her heels and fled if she hadn't abruptly noticed the source of the sound; it was a very small white bunny. He was extremely skinny, his fur was badly unkempt and dirty, and he was so weak now he couldn't even stand up on his own two paws.

She recognized him as Angel Bunny, Fluttershy's most beloved pet who always treated her somewhat badly. How he managed to survive for so long after all the other animals died upon Flutters' abandonment she didn't know, nor did she really want to.

She couldn't speak, nor could she find the words to. All he did he was wearily drag himself towards her, every once in a while, letting out a haunting, pained moan, implying he was very close to death. After a while, she hesitantly started towards him and shakily raised him up off of the dirty, dusty floor.

He was emaciated; he was nothing more than skin, bone, and fur now. His black eyes were glassy and sightless; he shouldn't even be alive. Blinking away half formed tears, she shakily lied him back on the floor and looked around briefly before turning back to him.

Her eyes were filling with tears at what she knew she was about to do to him. She had to end his suffering somehow, she didn't want him to go on like this. "I-I'm so _so _sorry." She then grimaced, turning away as she rose a hoof off of the floor and brought it back down to the floor as hard as she could.

Upon feeling a sudden warm substance on her hoof, she shakily pulled away and galloped out, gasping fearfully, tears beginning to stream from her eyes. She glanced at her hoof, covered in blood and brain matter sticking to it. With a barely audible, frightened whimper, she trotted to the river and washed her hoof clean in the rushing water.

But once it was finished, she only lied there. She didn't like killing the bunny, but she had to do so in order to end his suffering. Celestia knew how long he was left like that. But that wasn't the only thing; she'd seen so many ponies die, some she use to call her friends, others just innocent bystanders. Something like this would begin to wear on a pony's sanity.

Finally, she buried her face in her hooves and allowed her emotions to finally flow out in the form of tears; tears of fear, grief, anger. All she wanted was for everything to go back to normal, but she knew it wouldn't. Even if Twilight was killed or at least redeemed, Equestria would never be the peaceful, magical nation it use to be.

**Don't ask how Angel survived ten years without food or water while all the other animals died, I don't know. Maybe bunnies in the Equestrian universe live for excessively long times? Or he was just special like that? No, I actually deleted a paragraph in this chap. implying how he survived. **

**The "scene" I deleted was where Dinky noticed a newly dead corpse of a bird lying on the floor nearby, a number of gashes and bitemarks covering her body, to which Dinky suggests to herself that, after a while, he reluctantly resorted to cannibalism in order to survive.**

**Also, I doubt I'll get to mentioning (maybe implying, but not mentioning) this in the fic, but the "underground hide-out" of the ponies, known here as the Resistance, is actually what's left of Sugarcube Corner. Sometime during those ten years, the land where Sugarcube Corner was built became soft, causing it to sink (and partially end up buried) about six feet underground.**

**But Equestrian technology has really boosted in the past ten years, especially with Equestria abruptly relying on magic a lot more than they did ten years ago, so they managed to really fix the place up to work as a hide-out for themselves and keep themselves protected from the Spark Republic.**

**The first chapter kinda focused on Fluttershy/Brevity Thrash and this one focused more on Dinky Doo (and Scootaloo and Pipsqueak somewhat), so the next chapter I'm planning on will focus on the return of Applebloom and Sweetie Belle. Don't worry. they're not dead...yet. **

**Stay tuned for chapter three! PLEASE NO FLAMES!**


	3. Character Refs

**Alright, it may be a little while before I actually update a new chapter for this fic (I'm being attacked by writers' block yet again, but don't worry, I'll continue it eventually). Another reason is the fear of making one of the OCs that have been submitted to me OOC and ending up flamed for it or whatever, but I'm trying my best, don't worry. For now, I just wanted to upload a few descriptions of the canon characters and how they're potrayed in this fic, just to give you a better idea of them. BTW, I now have a DeviantART account (ChocolateMocha01), so I may upload pics of what the characters (probably only the canon characters that appear in the fic) on that account at some point. XD**

Name: Queen Twilight "Radiant Spark" Sparkle

Race: unicorn mare

Age: her exact age is unknown, but she's ten years older than her age in Season 4 (she sure does look like it too)

Appearance: Due to the dark magic charged through her body, her appearance seems to have changed greatly over the years. She has a very dark, greyish lavender coat with a midnight (almost black) indigo mane and tail w/ a drk purple and pink stripe, both heavily grey tinged. Her mane is badly unkempt and mostly covers her left eye, which is horribly battle-scarred and she's totally blind in it.

Both her ears are tattered and her entire body is covered in scars from frequent battles. She has probably 10x the amount of magical power she use to have, but it seems to dissipate more and more as time goes on as she continues to drain it all out using excessive amounts of magic to power her nation and destroy her enemies.

She also wears six pieces of gold jewelry, four on her legs used as bracelets, one as a crown, and one around her neck. They're all emblazoned with peculiarly colorful gemstones of unknown origin.

Personality: Unlike her former friendly, caring, but short-tempered self, she's extremely malevolent, but isn't much of a killer, rather she enjoys watching other ponies suffer. But if the torture she deals on them ends up murdering them, then so be it. She doesn't really call anypony her friend, other than Ditzy Doo really, who tries her best to remain loyal to her.

But deep down inside of her black stone heart, she remains the same pony she use to be and still has a desire to see her five best friends in all of Equestria again. But even then, she tries to keep her distance with them as often as possible in fear of her evil side thoughtlessly murdering them as well.

Like(s): the Spark Republic, watching ponies suffer, dark magic, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, Ditzy "Derpy" Doo

Dislike(s): the Resistance, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, Ditzy "Derpy" Doo, ponies who attempt to end her reign, the Crystal ponies, white (good) magic, ponies who betray her

Spark Republic or the Resistance?: The Spark Republic (duh! she the Queen of it!) (SPOILERS!)  
At the beginning of forming the Republic, she destroyed the Crystal Heart and ran out the Crystal ponies, killing many, before using the remnants of the Empire as the capital of the Spark Republic.

Current/Future Status: living

Occupation: the tyrant Queen of the Spark Republic (formerly known as Equestria)

* * *

Name: Rarity Belle

Race: Crystal unicorn mare (formerly just a unicorn)

Age: two years older than Twilight (remains looking about the same as she did ten years ago due to managing to keep herself looking young)

Appearance: She's a greyish white crystallized unicorn mare with a classily decorated violet mane and tail (think of how she looked at the end of "The Crystal Empire Pt. 1"). She has gradient navy blue eyes and a clawmark-like scar over her three-diamond cutie mark of unknown origin. She wears the Crystal Heart on a silver chain around her neck to keep herself crystallized and powerful. It was given to her by Spike, who managed to retrieve it from Twilight and reassemble it.

Personality: Like her former self, she's very classy and somewhat OCD and arrogant at times. But despite this, Twilight still managed to spike fear into her heart as well. Unlike her friends, she's constantly locked up in a small room near Twilight's with a sewing machine and many mannequins, different types of fabric, jewelry, stuff like that.

She believed it to be heaven at first, until she found out what she was forced to do. She works as Twi's fashion designer and is stuck making dresses for the Queen almost 24/7, frequently punished and forced to redo them if Twi fails to like what she made. She's also forced to toil in the currently abandoned Crystal Mines beneath the Empire to get more gems for her dresses and any jewelry Twilight requests.

It has really taken a toll on her physical appearance and her emotional state, beginning to wear on her young appearance and physical strength, leaving her almost constantly fatiqued and weakened. But despite this, she forces herself to follow all of Twi's orders without any argument as she's seen what happens to ponies who try to argue with the Queen.

Like(s): Spike, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Queen Twilight (due to Stockholm Syndrome), Sweetie Belle (she doesn't know of her current status, so almost constantly fears for her little sister), jewelry, fashion, crystals/gems, Crystal ponies

Dislike(s): Queen Twilight, the Spark Republic, mud/dirt/rain/anything messy, some Pegasus ponies (doesn't like their reckless, daring personalities), Rainbow Dash (sometimes)

Spark Republic or the Resistance?: the Spark Republic

Current/Futue Status: living, though she sometimes wishes for death and sometimes finds herself trying to get the Queen to kill her

Occupation: the personal fashion designer to Queen Twilight

* * *

Name: Rainbow Lightning Dash

Race: Pegasus mare (flightless)

Age: same as Twilight

Appearance: Unlike her former self, due to the sudden traumatic conditions of everyday life, Rainbow has left her former, bright and colorful demeanor. She has a dull cyan blue coat with a greyscale mane and tail and moderate cerise eyes (her canon eye colour, it's like a red-pink). She's also lost her flight skills entirely due to Twilight clipping her wings (like some people do to a bird) so that she couldn't fly away or use her advanced flight skills to attack her.

Personality: She's mostly lost her daring, courageous personality from years ago, and like most ponies, is absolutely terrified of Queen Twilight and what she may do to them. Before having her wings clipped, she wasn't so much though. She was determined to band together with her friends and defeat Twi once and for all, but she believes Twi had overheard her plans and that was the reason she got her wings clipped.

She's now scared for her life and greatly concerning her five friends, doing anything she can in attempt to protect them if she can. She's most concerned for Fluttershy, a very close fillyhood friend of hers and the only one of the five who managed to flee the Queen's grasp. But Rainbow Dash's hatred for Twi only seems to get worse and worse everyday.

Like(s): Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Scootaloo, flying, weather/storms, Cloudsdale, fighting, thoughts of the Spark Republic coming to an end

Dislike(s): Queen Twilight, Ditzy "Derpy" Doo, the Spark Republic, the Resistance (?), the loss of her ability to fly

Spark Republic or Resistance?: the Spark Republic

Current/Future Status: currently living

Occupation: She doesn't have much of a use for Twilight; like her friends, she's mostly trapped in jail-like cells for a majority of the time.

* * *

Name: Fluttershy "Brevity Thrash"

Race: Pegasus mare

Age: one year younger than Rarity

Appearance: She has a very dull, almost mustard yellow coat with a badly unkempt dark pink mane and tail. To make herself look more dangerous, she cut her mane and tail both a lot shorter and it never seemed to grow back to its original length. Like most ponies, she's very much battle-scarred, including a couple layers of white, bloodstained bandages wrapped around one wing, due to an unknown injury that rendered that one wing permanately disabled for flight.

Personality: Unlike her former self, she's a lot more agressive and hateful and isn't afraid to fight, even if it costs her own, or her opponent's, life. She lost her skittish deameanor shortly after the war with the Spark Republic came about, knowing that she'd be one of the first to die if she was shy and terrified of her own shadow.

Despite this, she still has a caring and almost motherly side, so that she'll never (intentionally) harm or kill an injured pony whom she knows isn't an enemy or a helpless animal or foal. But also, unlike before, if she knows that death of somepony is imminent (as in, their injuries or illness is so bad, it will eventually kill them), she'll commit a mercy killing herself to end their suffering as quickly as possible.

Beforehand, she was so shy and caring that she could hardly stand the death of one of her own animals, even if she knew it'd die eventually, no matter what the reason.

Like(s): Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Dinky Doo, Scootaloo, her allies, the Resistance, animals, Ponyville, the way life was before the Spark Republic

Dislike(s): Queen Twilight, the Spark Republic, their enemies/opponents, killing (she still doesn't like it, but knows that it's an imminent event in their new lifestyle), weapons, fighting (again, she doesn't like it, but knows it has to be done for survival)

Spark Republic or Resistance?: the Resistance (she was temporarily held captive by the Spark Republic a couple of years before the Resistance was formed)

Current/Future Status: deceased (murdered by Queen Twilight)

Occupation: before fleeing the Resistance to fight the Spark Republic on her own, she served as the leader and combat specialist of the Resistance.

* * *

Name: Jackie "Applejack" Apple

Race: Earthpony mare

Age: same as Fluttershy

Appearance: She's a young yellowish-orange Earth mare with an unkempt blonde mane and tail and has light green eyes. Unlike most ponies, she hasn't changed much in appearance other than a long pink scar on one side from a past injury that nearly killed her.

Personality: She remains not much of a fighter, but will fight to the death when she needs to. But unlike her friends, she can't help but feel there is some good left in Twilight's heart, they just have to find it and break it free of the cold, evil bounds its trapped in. Even then, she does feel most hatred for Twilight and wants her defeated just as much as everypony else, but doesn't want to see her die (nor does her other four friends, who always fail to admit it).

Like(s): Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Applebloom, Big Mac, Granny Smith, the rest of the Apple family, Sweet Apple Acres, weapons (she's a weapons' specialist for the Queen, she's kinda forced to like that kind of thing)

Dislike(s): Queen Twilight, the Spark Republic, anypony who tries to harm/kill herself or her friends and/or family

Spark Republic or Resistance?: the Spark Republic (she took temporary refuge in Appleloosa when Ponyville was ambushed, but was eventually caught on the run and was dragged to the Republic where she's been held captive ever since)

Current/Future Status: living

Occupation: She works as a weapons' specialist for Queen Twilight, frequently designing quite dangerous ones in hopes of managing to use them against the Queen and her allies at some point in time. But despite this, the job also has its downsides, such as sometimes being forced to test them out...on live ponies and animals.

* * *

Name: Pinkamena Diane "Pinkie" Pie

Race: Earthpony mare

Age: one year younger than Fluttershy

Appearance: She has a dull light pink coat with a flat, dark pink mane and tail with dull sky blue eyes. She's probably the worst battle-scarred of the Mane Six, as she's missing one eye (covers it up with her long mane) and is totally paralyzed from the waist down due to some unknown injury.

She's also drawn in scarlet red (possibly blood) a circle-slash over her cutie mark of three balloons, most likely due to the loss of happiness and laughter in the world and in her as well.

Personality: Her personality has changed much, originally a bubbly and cheerful party animal to morbidly depressed and almost constantly in agony. For an unknown reason, Pinkie, currently known as Pinkamena by most, is frequently tortured by Twilight and her allies, otherwise, locked up in a small, pitch black, windowless room practically 24/7. The only time she's ever let out is to be tortured again and rarely, if ever, gets food or water.

This has all taken a massive toll on her mental state, leading many ponies to believe she's suffering from insanity, even her best friend, Rainbow Dash, who noticed she was somewhat mentally unstable when in her Pinkamena state. Because of this, she was locked up permanately and almost totally forgotten about by now.

Like(s): Rainbow Dash, Queen Twilight (due to Stockholm Syndrome), Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, parties, happiness, laughter, the way life use to be before the Spark Republic

Dislike(s): Rainbow Dash, Queen Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, parties, happiness, laughter, the Spark Republic (?), accusations of her being mentally unstable, darkness, etc.

Spark Republic or Resistance?: the Spark Republic

Current/Future Status: living, though she's very close to death the last time anypony actually saw her

Occupation: Posibly due to beliefs she's mentally insane, Pinkie tends to be a subject to frequent scientific and magical experiments that include things such as testing out certain weapons, seeing how different ponies react to certain extreme things (temperature, injuries, stuff like that), etc. etc.

It only seems to be making her mental state even worse and hopes of surviving all of this even lower than when the Spark Republic was first formed.

* * *

Name: Spike

Race: dragon

Age: 100 years older than Twilight (dragons age differently than ponies, he's actually about five years younger than her in pony-years, that's my headcanon anyway)

Appearance: Spike remains about the same as he use to be with a somewhat darker colour scheme. He's now much bigger, towering about thirty feet over Twilight and the rest of the Mane Six. On his hands and feet, he has long lime green claws and a has large forest green eyes with cat-like slits for pupils. The spikes on his head and down his back are somewhat sharper tipped now and are much longer.

He also has two large green and purple batlike wings like that of most dragons, but rarely actually flies unless travelling a long distance or taking Twilight (or one of his other allies) a long distance upon request.

Personality: He's changed a lot from his bubbly young self. He now speaks in a very deep, growling voice that is somewhat incoherent to some ponies. Most of his memories for his old friends, as in, the Mane Six, are gone, despite the fact he remains very much loyal to Twilight and will do whatever she commands, usually, without argument.

He frequently knocks ponies or smaller creature away a number of feet away with his massive tail or deals usually fatal wounds with his massive, sharp claws and fangs. But one of his most used attacks is literally frying their enemies to death with his fiery breath, no longer able to do his old spells with it.

It's unknown whether he actually fears Twilight or not, but it's assumed that he isn't as he has an extremely aggressive demeanor and is treated quite well by Twilight, as she feeds him regularly when he's left unable to.

Like(s): Queen Twilight, Rarity (?), gems, killing, the Spark Republic

Dislike(s): Twilight's enemies, Rarity (?), Rainbow Dash (?), Fluttershy (?), Applejack (?), Pinkie Pie (?), alliances that're against the Spark Republic (the Resistance, the Cloudsdale Regime, etc.), Ditzy "Derpy" Doo (he seems to fear that she'll take his place as Twi's assistant)

Spark Republic or the Resistance?: the Spark Republic

Occupation/Job: He frequently works for Twilight, mostly as her assistant or her second-in-command, obeying all orders she gives him.

Status: living

* * *

Name: Applebloom Apple

Race: Earth pony mare

Age: eight years younger than Twilight

Appearance: Applebloom hasn't changed much from her former self. She has a dull yellow coat and a badly unkempt scarlet red mane and tail. She still has her bow, but no longer wears it in her mane, rather wears it on her tail. Even then, it's dirty and tattered from years of being handled.

She has very few battle scars, excluding over her left eye, through one of her cutie marks, and on the side of her neck was she was cut in the past and nearly died of blood loss. Her cutie mark is a blue Posion Joak flower, acquired due to frequently assisting Zecora in the Everfree Forest as a filly.

Personality: Like her older sister, she isn't really one for fighting or killing, but she'll fight when needed. She's been thought to be one of the Resistance's strongest fighters as she managed to kill one of the Queen's guards with her bare hooves when they nearly killed Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, her best friends since their fillyhood.

It proved her to have a very short temper, and when she's infuriated as far a she can go, she practically turns into a cold-blooded killer, though finds herself upset due to her actions afterwards. Because of this, she sometimes fears she'll snap on her friends and other allies as well.

She has rather strong physical strength due to bucking apple trees frequently when she was younger, especially when helping out her sister, Applejack, whenver Applebuck Season came around.

Like(s): Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, Babs Seed, Dinky Doo, the Resistance, Pipsqueak (has a very small crush on him), apple-bucking, Applejack, Big Mac, Grany Smith, Fluttershy, the Everfree Forest

Dislike(s): Queen Twilight, the Spark Republic, the Queen's allies, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity (she doesn't really hate them, but she no longer trusts them as they're on Twi's side now, or she thinks they are)

Spark Republic or the Resistance?: the Resistance

Occupation/Job: Before going missing in the Everfree Forest, she was the weapons' specialist of the Resistance.

Status: unknown (after fleeing into the Everfree Forest to find some Poison Joak to use in a potion that may be able to defeat the Queen, she never seemed to return)

* * *

Name: Scooter "Scootaloo" Dash

Race: Pegasus mare (flightless)

Age: same as Applebloom

Appearance: Scootaloo is an fiery orange Pegasus with a rather short red-purple mane which, like most ponies, is dirty and unkempt and hangs over her face, sometimes making it hard to see. She was born with a rare disability in Pegasi rendering her wings totally useless, but during a fight with some of the Queen's goons, she lost her right wing, making it where she can hardly propel her scooter anymore.

Where her right wing use to be has four pink scars and a reddish nub where it was ripped off. Her other wing is also tattered and scarred, but other than that, she's mostly scarless. But she has an X-shaped scar over her cutie mark that she drew with a knife. Similar to Rainbow Dash's, it's a scooter wheel with a pink and purple lightning bolt extending from it. It's unknown why she crossed it out though.

Personality: Despite being extremely reckless and daring as a filly, due to the loss of her only real family, Rainbow Dash, she seems to be a bit more skittish now. Even then, she can be extremely aggressive when need be, even to her allies from time-to-time. She seems to be somewhat controlling of her allies and friends and, before her death, looked up to Fluttershy/Brevity Thrash like she use to look up to Rainbow Dash.

Alongside Dinky Doo, she was the second-in-command to Fluttershy due to having great physical strength despite being mentally depressed in the recent past and being totally flightless. Her loyalty can be questionable rather frequently to the point some ponies of the Resistance no longer trust her.

Like(s): Rainbow Dash, Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, Dinky Doo (somewhat), the Resistance, doing daredevilish stunts on her scooter, fighting, weapons, pranks

Dislike(s): Dinky Doo (sometimes), Applebloom (sometimes), Queen Twilight, the Spark Republic, losing a battle, being unable to fly, death/dying (dying has always been an irrational fear of hers, but she never admits it)

Spark Republic or the Resistance?: the Resistance

Occupation/Job: She serves as the second-in-command to the Resistance's leader, formerly Brevity Thrash, and the position of the leader of the Resistance has yet to be chosen.

Status: living

* * *

Name: Sweetie Belle

Race: unicorn mare

Age: three years younger than Applebloom & Scootaloo

Appearance: Sweetie Belle is a greyish white unicorn with a long, rather beautiful light pink and lavender mane and tail and sparkly mint green eyes. Somewhat like her sister, she became slightly OCD upon growing older and forced herself to stay clean and beautiful, which really paid off. She's one of the only characters in the fic to fail to have any scars as she covers them up with paint that matches her fur colour.

Her cutie mark is lavender treble clef over a light pink heart, representing her talent for singing. She acquired it upon winning the popular singing contest, Equestrian Idol, to the request of Applebloom and Scootaloo.

Personality: She still lives up to her name, being very much loving and caring and somewhat sensitive. Her best friends remain Applebloom and Scootaloo, as well as Dinky. Before the mysterious dissapearance of AB, the Earth mare was almost like a protector to the younger unicorn, so she seems to concern Applebloom's well-being the most among the team.

Like Fluttershy use to do for animals, she sometimes serves as the medical specialist of the Resistance as she's very much against fighting due to her kind, loving demeanor. Even then, she will reluctantly fight when need be, despite having rather weak physical strength.

Like(s): the Resistance, Dinky Doo, Scootaloo, Applebloom, non-violent ponies, gems/jewelry, singing, Queen Twilight (she can't even force herself to really hate anypony, especially one she knows use to be good), Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie

Dislike(s): Queen Twilight (I dont even know anymore), the Spark Republic, fighting, violence, death/dying, killing, their current lifestyle

Spark Republic or the Resistance?: the Resistance

Occupation/Job: She serves as the medical professionalist of the Resistance, managing to help patch up ponies' injuries and other wounds with ease, most likely having learned it from Fluttershy.

Status: living

* * *

Name: Barbara "Babs" Seed

Race: Earth pony mare

Age: one year older than Applebloom

Appearance: Babs hasn't changed too much in appearance since her fillyhood. She has a golden brown coat and a rather long amaranth (its a pinkish-red colour) mane and tail with lighter bolt-shaped streaks emblazoning it. She has apple green eyes, and despite having great physical strength, she's blind as a bat due to her eyes being injured and later infected in a fight.

Her cutie mark is a dark brown seed, representing her gardening skills before the Spark Republic came to power.

Personality: Babs, unlike her former shy, somewhat afraid self with a slight controlling side, grew up to be extremely aggressive and is never afraid to fight, no matter who it is. Despite never actually carrying any weapons with her, she doesn't feel the need as she can murder a grown stallion with her bare hooves with ease.

Due to fighting almost 24/7, she's battle-scarred almost head to tail with a dirty, unkempt mane and tail. She remains dwelling in Manehattan, despite it currently being Spark territory, which is the main reason her physical strentgh is so high, as she has to be attacking constantly in order to survive.

She prefers to work/fight alone, never trusting anypony unless they're family or a friend. If they aren't, she'll instantly challenge them, whether they tried to harm her or not. At the beginning of the war, she lost touch with the other three Crusaders, but they still frequently cross her mind, as she doesn't know whether they're alive or dead.

She also frequently finds helpless foals on the streets of Manehattan as the whole city either fled or died upon the city being taken over, leaving a number of fillies and colts abandoned. She usually protects them for as long as she can before rushing them out of the city. Unfortunately, more foals have died than she can count.

Not because of her blindness, as she's managed to "see" with all of her other senses, maing her surprisingly keen to watch happens around her. But the Spark ponies are extremely brutal and do what they can to get ahold of the foals and kill them, for no real reason other than the fact they aren't on the Queen's side.

Like(s): Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, fighting, killing

Dislike(s): Queen Twilight, anypony who works for the Queen/is an ally to her, the Spark Republic, anypony who tries to harm and/or kill her

Spark Republic or the Resistance?: neither, she dwells as a loner on the streets of Manehattan

Occupation/Job: none really, other than being a protector of the orphaned fillies and colts on the streets of Manehattan

Status: living

* * *

Name: Dinky Doo Hooves

Race: unicorn mare

Age: same as Babs Seed

Appearance: Dinky is a lavender unicorn with a rather long blonde mane and tail with a pastel streak. Her mane is rather messy, and her tail is cut down to a tuft of fur a couple of inches long. She's not very battle-scarred other than one on her hoof and another on her cheek. Her cutie mark is a muffin with tiny pale yellow stars sparkling around it.

Personality: Dinky remains rather kind and somewhat sensitive, and like most ponies has a short temper. But she has a seething hate that she sometimes accidentally takes out on her friends for the Spark Republic for what they did to her adoptive family: Ditzy "Derpy" Doo, Doctor Time Turner Whooves, and Amethyst Sparkler Star, her foalsitter and older sister figure.

She believes Ditzy, her biological mother, is dead after the grey Pegasus was captured and never returned. The Doctor, her adoptive father, was totally imprisoned by Twilight as he can't be killed without regenerating. Amethyst Star was also killed while protecting Dinky herself.

This great loss leaves her infuriated and she'll do literally anything to get her hooves on the Queen and murder her in cold blood. She can sometimes be quite vicious to her allies, excluding her coltfriend, Pipsqueak, whom she'd probably do anything for, even die if it were to save him.

Her loyalty to the Resistance is questionable sometimes, as she frequently attempts to escape the Resistance's base in Ponyville's ruins and fight and kill Twilight by herself.

Like(s): Pipsqueak, the Resistance (somewhat), Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, fighting, ending Queen Twi's reign over Equestria for good, Ditzy Doo, Doctor Whooves, Amethyst Star

Dislike(s): Scootaloo (sometimes), Queen Twilight, the Spark Republic, dying (she doesn't want to die until she knows the Queen is dead and the Spark Republic has fallen to its knees)

Spark Republic or the Resistance?: the Resistance (duh!)

Occupation/Job: She works as second-in-command to the leader of the Resistance, alongside Scootaloo, but so far, as the leader hasn't been chosen yet, she leads the Resistance alongside the Pegasus mare.

Status: living

* * *

Name: Tornado Bolt

Race: Pegasus mare

Age: same as Babs Seed

Appearance: Tornado Bolt is a light grey Pegasus with a dark greyish violet mane and tail. Like almost everypony, her mane and tail are rather unkempt and she only has one battle scar, over her left eye. One of her wings are slightly tattered, but it fails to affect her flight skills much at all.

She also wears silver royal guard armour (excluding the helmet) with a blue wing emblem on the chest of it that represents the Cloudsdale Regime.

Personality: Before the War, Tornado was a tomboyish, carefree pony, like most Pegasi, and worked in Cloudsdale as a weather pony. She still remains tomboyish and rather reckless, but is quite a fighter as well. She's lived in Cloudsdale all her life and is the creator (and leader) of the Cloudsdale Regime, a group of Pegasi who're against the Spark Republic and are somewhat allianced with the Resistance.

She rarely carries any weapons and uses her skills from her former job in the Weather Facility to her advantage, as she, alongside Rumble, keep the Weather Facility functioning and alive. Her main weather attacks are using tornadoes or lightning to defeat enemies. She can fry Earthpony and unicorn enemies with lightning bolts with ease and uses tornadoes to disable their attacks and throw them off for miles, usually injuring, and sometimes, killing them.

She frequently works alongside Rumble, usually protesting against working with anypony else as Rumble is the only one she totally trusts. She acts rather questionable with most other ponies, even her own allies. Her cutie mark is a greyish purple tornado, representing her talents with creating and controlling storms, including her specialty, tornadoes.

Like(s): storms, tornadoes, weather, Rumble, Cloudsdale, the Resistance, daring and reckless ponies, the Cloudsdale Weather Facility

Dislike(s): the Resistance (sometimes), the Spark Republic, controlling ponies, Earth ponies and unicorns, Ditzy Doo, Dinky Doo (?), flying, clouds

Spark Republic or the Resistance?: the Cloudsdale Regime, an alliance to the Resistance

Occupation/Job: She works as the leader of the Cloudsdale Regime and a specialist of air combat for both the Regime and the Resistance

Status: living

* * *

Name: Rumble

Race: Pegasus stallion

Age: same as Scootaloo and Applebloom

Appearance: Rumble is a young pale grey Pegasus with a black mane and tail with a light grey streak. He's missing his left eye, but without anything to cover it up, stitched it shut shortly after the loss of it. His wings tattered and scratched in places, but remains able to fly pretty well.

Personality: Rumble is a rather friendly Pegasus, unlike most stallions in this time, and is somewhat into joking and making others laugh, but knows when to be serious and can be aggressive when challenged or finds his friends or family being harmed or someone threatens them.

Unlike some ponies, whose mental state has been worn out due to the constant battle, he has control over his temper, and knows when to stop attacking somepony. Even then, he wishes the worst of suffering to his enemies, especially the Spark Republic.

His cutie mark is a lightning storm, representing his talents with weather duty, like Tornado Bolt. He has something of a crush on both Scootaloo and Tornado Bolt, but forces himself never to show it or speak of it to anypony.

Like(s): Tornado Bolt, Scootaloo, Dinky Doo, Thunderlane, CloudChaser & Flitter, the Cloudsdale Regime, the Resistance, weather, storms, clouds, lightning, fighting, the Wonderbolts

Dislike(s): killing, the Spark Republic, death

Spark Republic or the Resistance?: the Cloudsdale Regime

Occupation/Job: He works as second-in-command to Tornado Bolt and will become the leader of the Cloudsdale Regime if she happens to die or find herself too injured to lead.

Status: living

* * *

Name: Featherweight

Race: Pegasus stallion

Age: same as Scootaloo and Applebloom

Appearance: Featherweight is a young cream Pegasus with a brown mane and tail and chocolate brown eyes. He's slightly lankier than most ponies his age and isn't scarred much at all. His cutie mark is a white feather, barely visible against his pale coat colour, with an unknown meaning.

Personality: Unlike his somewhat skittish past self, he's rather agressive and sly, but rarely, if ever, automatically chooses to fight. Though he isn't afraid to fight, he tries to avoid doing so as often as possible due to his rather weak physical strength and small size for a pony his age.

He was temporarily captured by the Spark Republic, where one of his wings were totally cut off and replaced with a prosthetic one made up of razor sharp blades. In the process, he killed his captors using the blades on his "wing" and fled back to Ponyville. But with one wing not built for flight, he's now almost totally unable to keep himself airborne for more than a few seconds.

Like(s):

Dislike(s):

Spark Republic or the Resistance?: the Resistance (formerly the Cloudsdale Regime)

Occupation/Job: He's one of the many ground combat ponies of the Resistance (formerly air combat for the Regime) and uses his bladed wing to spear ponies and slice through their flesh with ease, usually either stunning them to the point they can't fight back or killing them altogether.

Status: living


	4. Chapter 3

**Hey, guys! I finally decided to write and upload the next chapter after a long bout of writers' block, this time, taking place within the Cloudsdale Regime. Read on!**

"Rumble! Rumble, wake up!"

The pale grey stallion writhed slightly in his sleep, mumbling a few incoherent words under his breath before flipping over, pulling the ragged blankets over his head. The light grey mare standing over him let out an exasperated sigh before grabbing the smaller Pegasus by his scruff and fiercely jerking him from his bed, causing him to abruptly fall to the floor.

"C'mon, Rumble, this is serious!"

"Ow! The buck was that, Tornado? I was tryin' to sleep!"

"Well, too bad! We don't have time for 'sleep', we've got trouble!"

Rumble rubbed his tired light purple eye, flinching ever so slightly, before rising to his hooves, stretching like a cat and audibly cracking his wings. "Whaddya mean by—by 'trouble'?" With another sigh, she abruptly grabbed her companion's hoof and began dragging him out of the rather dark room, snapping back at him, "Come with me!"

Rumble opened his mouth to retort, but upon realizing he was fighting a losing battle, he only gave in until the reached the outside of the now abandoned weather factory, which was currently used as a makeshift shelter for the Cloudsdale Regime.

But mere seconds after trotting out onto the greyish clouds, they were forced to lie flat against the surface as a streak of teal, gold, and amber abruptly blazed over their heads, kicking up dust and a strong breeze in her wake. Upon glancing behind them, they noticed a teal Pegasus mare, somewhat older than the two of them, hovering in the air behind them, an infuriated gaze blazing in her amber eyes.

"What the…I don't…Tornado, what in the buck is going on? I want answers!"

"Well, here's an answer, run!"

Before he could retort, the mare took to her heels and rushed into the darkened Weather Facility, Rumble forcing himself to follow close behind. "Tornado Bolt, what's going on?"

"I don't really know, all I know is that Pegasus and a few others have been attacking our camp all morning! I thought I could hold 'em off myself, I guess I was…wrong about that, hehe…"

"Well, whaddya want _me _to do about it?"

"Just, uh…I dunno really. The weather machines haven't been working the same way the use to back when the Facility was still up and running, they're becoming hard to control and…" Before she could finish, the stallion abruptly interrupted her. "Then what do we do?! We can't just let those buckers win!"

"Cool it, Rumble, I've got a plan!"

"Oh, not one of your 'plans' again, Tornado. Remember what happened last time?"

"Hey, I said _never _to speak of that again! _Never! _And this time, I think it might work! Just…follow my lead, alright?" Without waiting for a response, Tornado fluttered her wings for a couple seconds, before soaring back out the door.

"Wait, Tornado! What're you…?" Rumble stared off uneasily at her for a second, before letting out a soft sigh; he wasn't always a fan of Tornado Bolt's plans and ideas, as they frequently failed, but sometimes, he just forced himself to accept it. Carefully opening his battle-scarred wings, he took off into the air after her, struggling slightly at first, before eventually reaching her height, high in the smoggy, dim sky.

"So, what's the plan this time, Tornado?"

"Exactly!"

"Exactly what?"

"I mean, we create a tornado! I can't create a powerful enough one alone, but both of us together, we may be able to do it! It's kinda risky, but it'll take out all of our enemies at once!"

Rumble paused, momentarily glaring at Tornado as if she'd totally gone crazy, before shrugging off the confusion and replying casually, "You're the boss." With a slight smirk, Tornado replied back, "Alright, let's do this!"

She began diving closer towards the cloud surface below them, beginning to fly in a twisting shape in attempt to whip up enough wind to create a tornado powerful enough to actually cause any harm to their enemies. Rumble reluctantly followed close behind, but unbeknownst to the young Pegasi, the teal mare hovered a few feet away, a number of mares and stallions around her clad in dark uniforms.

"Oh, they think they can defeat _that _easy? Those foals! Allow us to show how it's _really _done!" Glancing at her companions, the teal mare smirked and gestured with a hoof towards the whirling Pegasi, a tornado visibly beginning to form between them. Without a second thought, the dark coloured ponies only saluted and darted off in thir direction.

"Alright, and…stop!" The grey mare shouted, nearly getting thrown to the ground as she stopped spinning, watching as the twister abruptly began whirling towards their opponents. Rumble was somewhat surprised, and opened his mouth to respond to his companion, only to stop in his tracks at a sudden, high pitched shriek.

"What the…?" He turned in the direction of the scream, horrified to find Tornado Bolt painfuly struggling with one of the dark clad Pegasus mares. "Tornado!" He attempted to fly to her aide, but failed as two stallions abruptly pinned him down, "I don't think so, buddy!" Rumble thoughtlessly writhed in their powerful grasps, only to end up punched in the face a couple times in the process.

"Ow! Let me go! Let…me…_go!" _With a fierce snarl, and kicked his hind legs out, managing to buck both of the stallions off of him with ease. Rising up to deal a few stunning blows, Rumble abruptly found himself in yet another grasp, this time, of the teal mare.

"No, _no! _You—You'll never win! Lemme go, you…!"

"Not today! You're coming with us!"

"What?! Let me go! Tornado Bolt, help me!"

"Oh, I don't think you're little friend's gonna be helping you out anytime soon!" Seconds after she finished her sentence, the mare attacking his companion fell back, a small, but razor sharp blade disapearing into a cuff on her wrist as she began to trot back towards the others.

But Tornado Bolt didn't move, she didn't even try to get up and fight back again; she lied on the greyish white, fluffy floor of Cloudsdale, many deep gashes emblazoning her chest and stomach where the mare had used the blade against her. Blood was pouring from the deep wound, staining her light grey coat a dark red.

He couldn't see her body even struggling to move with any sign of life, not even breathing.

Rumble was absolutely petrified that he forgot to fight back against his opponents' grasps; ever since the War with the Spark Republic began, he'd worked alongside Tornado Bolt as her second-in-command within the Cloudsdale Regime. He was the only pony she ever truly trusted.

He didn't feel an actual romantic bond to her, he had a slight crush on her, Scootaloo as well, but never managed to actually show it. Even then, they'd always had a close friendly bond, even when they were foals, and he could hardly believe she was actually…dead.

Suddenly, he felt a sudden wave of pure fury and hatred wash over him; he'd seen many of his family and friends die at the hooves of these monsters, but he only stood by and let them get away with it. Why, he didn't know, but now, it was time it ended, it was time he got revenge on them for what they've done.

He thoughtlessly bucked the teal mare off of him, surprisingly enough to cause her to lose her grip and fall behind her. To her surprise, it was long enough for him to pin her down and repeatedly deal many powerful blows; to her chest and to her head mainly.

She yelled out a few times for him to stop, at first she sounded enraged, but at the same time, she sounded fearful and agonized. Suddenly, he felt his grip on her loosen and he was forcefully thrown back by one of the stallions who'd accompanied the mare.

The turned on him furiously, as if they were readying themselves to do the same to him what he'd done to their leader. But he only jumped to his hooves, taking a couple of menacing steps towards the stallions and one mare, growling under his breath, "Never…come…back!"

They paused for a long while, and with an angry snort, the mare pulled the teal mare's limp body onto her back and took off into the air, and with a last hateful glance at Rumble, the stallions followed close behind. He didn't know for sure if they would be coming back or not, but he did know one thing; they were gone for now, and that was good enough.

He glared furiously after them for a few seconds, before turning back towards Tornado Bolt with a sad sigh.

"_Huh, you're a pretty good fighter, Rumble, I don't know why anypony else hasn't seen that in you before. I might be making the wrong choice here, I know I am, but if I ever get so hurt or so sick that I can't lead the rest of the Regime, or I just straight-up die, I want you to take my place, okay?"_

_Rumble was taken aback at the slightly larger mare's sudden request. He was known as a rather klutzy, joking stallion and rarely, if ever serious in any kind of situation. "Are you—are you sure, Tornado? I-I mean, I'm still young and…nopony'll wanna dwell under _my _leadership, you know that!"_

"_Yeah, I do know that, but something tells me…you're the right choice, and I believe it. I don't trust anypony, Rumble, not even my own allies, but there's something about you that's just…trusting."—she glanced momentarily at the charred body at their hooves—"From what just happened, I can tell you have a damn good reputation when it comes to, well, killing. And in our time, that's a pretty good skill to have."_

_Rumble shot a glance at the enemy corpse as well; he'd use a massive lightning bolt to take out the Spark Pegasus guard when he was attempting to attack Cotton Cloudy, another Cloudsdale Regime member and the youngest in the whole Regime. "I…didn't mean to do this."_

"_But you did, that's means you're capable of it, you're capable of killing an enemy at free will and capable of protecting us. Cloudy's not the strongest mare ever, Featherweight kinda has a hoof in both worlds, the Resistance _and _the Regime, and everypony else, I've hardly ever known them, so I can't even force myself to trust them. I'd never intentionally harm them of course, but…you never know, right?"_

_Rumble didn't immediately reply, Tornado had never been this untrustworthy as a filly. But since her mother, Ditzy Doo's half-sister, Flutter Doo, died while protecting the filly from a gang of Changelings shortly before the War began, she was never the same again. It was as if it'd permanately left a scar on both her mental and physical state, but Rumble understood her pain, he'd lost his own share of beloved friends and family as well._

"_Yeah, I know what you mean, Tornado. And…I guess I'll do it, maybe get a chance to prove myself to the others." Tornado let out a brief laugh as she gave Rumble a playful punch on his shoulder, "That's the spirit, Rumble! Now, c'mon, there's this new gun I was working on that I wanna test out!"_

_As usual, without waiting for him to reply, Tornado galloped off, Rumble thoughtlessly following close behind her._

Rumble couldn't help but smile slightly at the memories, and with a brief glance at Tornado's still body, he abruptly became saddened again. They'd never have times like that again. He slowly trotted towards her and pulled her limp body onto his back before opening his wings and turning to Tornado briefly.

_Don't die on me now, Tornado, _he thought to himself. _I might still be able to save you. _And with a couple test flaps of his wings, he soared off away from Cloudsdale in the direction of the Resitance's base.

**Sorry for the long wait, guys, I've just been struggling with writers' block. This time, we got a bit of a look at Tornado Bolt and Rumble, the leaders of the Cloudsdale Regime (if you saw my character refs for everypony, the Cloudsdale Regime is similar to the Resistance, just with Pegasus ponies and they settle within the old weather factory). So, Tornado has unfortunately died, but Rumble is planning on taking her to the Resistance in hopes of saving her life (he was too lazy to actually check her pulse, so it's kinda undefined whether she's just unconscious or already dead).**

**Tornado Bolt, the leader of the Cloudsdale Regime in this fic, is a light grey Pegasus filly in canon who attends the Cutie Mark Crusaders' school. In **_**Flight to the Finish, **_**she's shown to fly decently well for her age.**

**Rumble, Tornado's second-in-command and best friend in this fic, is a pastel grey Pegasus colt in canon who was only seen in **_**Hurricane Fluttershy **_**as Thunderlane's little brother. He has a slight crush on both Scootaloo and Tornado here, but I may be shipping him with Scoots later on if I choose to kill off Tornado (what do you guys think?)**

**I'm planning on adding in a few of the OCs that have been submitted to me in the next chapter, as the rest of this fic will mostly take place within the Resistance and, from time-to-time, switch to the POVs of the Cloudsdale Regime or the Spark Republic. This chapter does follow the storyline, just on the Regime's side of the story. **

**Also, I'm planning on not making the content of every other chapter involving ponies dying painfully and gorily like this one and the first one were, I just now realized how overdone that concept's becoming. And I promise that I **_**will not **_**wait as long to submit the next chapter, deal? Alright, stay tuned for chapter four!**

**BTW, in case you didn't figure this out, the Pegasi attacking Rumble and Tornado Bolt were Lightning Dust (from _Wonderbolts Academy_) and three of the Shadowbolts (the three shown in the second part of the MLP:FiM pilot episode). Lightning is the current leader of the Shadowbolts after being kicked out of the Academy, and the Shadowbolts aren't assisted with the Republic, they just cause trouble for, well, everypony. XD**


	5. Chapter 4

**Stone Cold/Brick © Warriormaster47**

"Alright, a little to the left. Now, up a little bit, no, that's too much. Here…" The moderate grey Earth stallion took the rifle Dinky held firmly in his own hooves briefly and pushed it downward ever so slightly, before allowing the young unicorn to handle herself once again. "…that looks about right. And, now!"

Dinky shakily went to pull the trigger on the rifle, but abruptly stopped herself with a shaky sigh. "I—I don't know, Brick, th-this is the first time I've ever handled a rifle like this and…I-I'm kinda nervous."

"Don't be, it'll be fine! And without your horn and all, you'll need skills in shooting a gun like this! Without a horn, you're left as one of the most vulnerable ponies in the Resistance, not all enemies can be taken down with hoof-to-hoof combat, y'know."

"Well…o-okay, I guess."

At that, the pae lavender unicorn took a couple deep breaths and a loud _bang!_a rather large bullet blasted from the barrel of the rifle and straight through the center of one of about five red and white targets lining the opposite wall. Dinky panted briefly after doing so, shaking her hooves to rid the light numb pain pulsing within them.

"Did—Did I do it?"—she glanced up briefly to look at the target—"I—I did it…I did it!" she shouted, a bit overjoyed at her sudden acomplishment, even bouncing a couple of times.

"Great job! Do you wanna try it again?"

Dinky paused for a couple of moments before shrugging. "Why not?"

She took the black rifle in her hooves once again and crouched near the floor, positioning it towards the target to the left of the one she shot first. Her grip on it was visibly trembling uncontrollably.

"Alright," Brick began. "a little to the left, and…now!"

Dinky smirked slightly as she went to pull the trigger, but seconds before she did so, the door to the gymnasium abruptly swung open. "Dinky, I—" Unfortunately, the Pegasus mare's sudden appearance was enough to startle the unicorn into pulling the trigger…straight towards her friend.

Dinky winced fearfully when she realized what was happening and Scootaloo barely had enough time to hastily fall flat to the painted concrete floor with a startled yelp as the bullet slammed into the steel door with a harsh _clang!_, leaving a rathr deep dent within it, but no real damage.

Scootaloo shakily rose to her hooves, badly stunned at how close she came to having a bullet lodged between her eyes.

Dinky only stared at her friend fearfully for a few seconds, before abruptly rising to her hooves and galloping towards Scootaloo, at the same time, exclaiming, "Oh, Scoots, I'm _so_sorry! I didn't mean to…" But before she could finish, Scootaloo furiously interrupted her.

"Didn't mean to?! You nearly blew my bucking head off! What in Celestia's name were you thinking?!" Dinky couldn't help but glare at her friend's furious gaze in shock for a few seconds. "What're you talking about? It was an _accident,_okay? And you're fine, so why does it matter?"

"I don't care! With that kind of action, we'd might as well…!"

"Alright, both of you, shut it!"

Both mares were taken aback at the stallion's sudden shout at both of them as he trotted up to Dinky's side. "Now listen, Scootaloo," he began. "what Dinky says is true. She had the rifle pointed at those targets over there"—he briefly pointed a hoof towards the targets lining the walls—" and only shot at you because you startled her by just all of a sudden barging in like that!"

Scoots was left shocked and felt somewhat offended, opening her mouth to retort back, but upon noticing this stallion towered over her like a hawk and could probably kill a grown stallion with one good punch, she decided to keep it to herself.

Dinky smiled up at Brick briefly, before turning back to Scootaloo, her cheerful expression vanishing. "What was it you wanted anyway, Scoots?"

"It's Rumble, y'know, the Cloudsdale Regime's second-in-command? He's here at the door, and, well, lemme just say…it's kinda urgent." Dinky abruptly grew concerned. "Urgent? Whaddya mean? He's…okay, right?"

"Oh, yeah, Rumble's fine other than a few bruises and all! It's Tornado Bolt, the Regime's leader, and I can't exactly say the same thing for her…"

Dinky paused. "Wh-Why? What's wrong?"

"Well, they…oh, just c'mon! I'll explain it on the way!"

Before Dinky could respond, Scootaloo turned away and galloped out the door, but before she headed on after her, Dinky turned to her companion, "Are you going to come with us?"

"Nah, I'll stay back here for now and "test out" my rifle a little more. But if you two end up a tight spot out there,"—he briefly cocked the rifle—"you know who to call."

Scootaloo, who'd come back at stood beside Dinky, only rolled her eyes and retorted, "Yeah, thanks, but I think we've got it." Suddenly, she grunted painfully as Dinky abruptly punched her in the shoulder rather firmly. She shot a cold glare at her friend before turning back to Brick, "Sure thing, Stone! We'll see ya later!"

Scootaloo only audibly scoffed before galloping out the door towards the entrance door of their refuge. Becoming enraged at the Pegasus, Dinky hastily galloped after her before grabbing her purple-red tail between her jaws and stopping the Pegasus mare in her tracks.

"Ow! What the _buck,_Dinky?!"

Dinky glanced around briefly, as if to ensure they weren't being watched. "What the hay was _that,_Scoots?"

"What're you talking about?"

"You know good and well what I'm talking about! What was with the way you acted back there?"

"Uh, you nearly shot my face off, that's what!"

"No, not that! I mean how you treated Brick…I-I mean, Stone Cold! You were acting like a complete jerk to him! I understand that, in this day and age, not many ponies can be trusted, but he can!"

"Who says? He's been here for a six days and automatically everypony loves him?!"

"Well, who was the one who saved our flanks when the Queen's guards ambushed us the night he showed up? Huh? That's what I thought, he did! He blew 'em all away like it was nothing, we would all be _dead_right now if he hadn't showed up!"

"That's BS, Dinky! We could've held 'em off alone just fine, and eventually, they would've grown weak and would've fled!"

This time, Dinky responded with a mocking laugh. "You wanna know what's BS, Scoots? Your rotten attitude! You don't trust _anypony;_you're _twice_as bad as Tornado Bolt!" Suddenly, Scootaloo rose a hoof off of the floor with a menacing snarl rumbling under her breath, startling Dinky, but in a few seconds, Scootaloo forced herself to control her temper.

"You're just a…oh, forget this! You're not worth wasting my time on!" Without another word, Scoots turned tail and furiously galloped on down the corridor, Dinky following close behind with an angry snort.

Once they arrive to the main atrium, the area that was connected closest to the entrance door, they found a number of medical personnel from the infirmary gathered there, the Regime leader strapped down onto a hospital bed, blood from her wounds soaking the snow white surface.

To the young mares' surprise, she was actually slightly conscious, her lime green gaze locked on the ceiling as she struggled to speak, each blink of her eyes seeming to last for hours at a time.

"What the…I don't even…how did this happen?" Dinky suddenly exclaimed. "It was the Shadowbolts again." a young male voice replied. The pale grey Pegasus managed to slip past the horde of doctors and nurses and trot up to the mares.

This time, Scootaloo responded, "Shadowbolts? You mean those buckers who've been causing problems for the Regime ever since the Spark Republic came to power?"

"That's them. Everypony excluding Cotton Cloudy and Cyan Skies were gone in Manehattan somewhere in attempt to find more food and weapons, we were running low. Cloudy and Cyan were both working on the old weather machine because it wasn't working anymore, so they couldn't help us fight. All I know is Tornado woke me up because the area was being ambushed by…oh, what was her name? Lightning Dust, I think? Yeah, that's it, the leader of the Shadowbolts.

"She kept on dive bombing that general area and nearly got us both killed a couple of times. When we went out to fight her off, Tornado suggested we create a tornado to literally blow away our enemies, y'know? So we did, and it stunned a couple of them, but not long enough. Lightning got ahold of me and held onto me while one of her companions, some Shadowbolt mare, stabbed Tornado Bolt half to death! I—I dunno if she's gonna be okay or not, but I decided to take her here, just in case you could save her life."

By the time Rumble finished his explanation, the infirmary workers had already rolled the gurney away to do what they could for the wounded Pegasus. Rumble looked visibly concerned and fearful for his companion's condition, but no tears were shed. He was a strong young stallion, and usually, even the deaths of his closest companions couldn't make him tear up.

Noticing this, Dinky rested a comforting hoof on his shoulder. "Oh, I'm sure she'll be fine, Rumble, I-I think Tornado Bolt's strong enough to pull through a few little stab wounds."

"Little?! Hardly! That mare made sure Tornado wouldn't be getting up again, I'm sure of it, they were rather deep and she was just…there was blood everywhere. All over her, all over the clouds, all over the mare who attacked her, ugh…"

After a brief pause, Scootaloo chose to add onto the conversation, "Well, Rumble, just in case, what're you gonna do if she…you know." Rumble let out a solemn sigh, "I dunno yet. Tornado Bolt chose me as her deputy because I'm a strong fighter and, well, really the only one she truly trusts. But, even now, I don't think I'm ready to be a leader quite yet, especially of the whole group!"

"Well, you could always leave the Cloudsdale Regime and join us, we're always looking forward to gaining new members here!"

"Whoa, whoa, lemme stop ya right there, Scoots! It's one thing I brought Tornado here, I mean, seriously, she's always been reluctant to be left in the care of ponies she hardly trusts, much less, she hardly _knows. _But totally betray her and the rest of the Regime by leaving them to fend for themselves if she dies? I appreciate your offer, I really do, but I just…can't. Cloudsdale has been my home ever since I was a colt, the only time I really visited Ponyville was during the annual tornado duty or—or just went down here with Thunderlane to buy food and whatever. But…"

"Wait," Scoots interrupted. "I know Thunderlane, Rainbow Dash use to kinda have a crush on him a few years back. What ever happened to him?"

"What happens to everypony in this day and age; he was captured by the Queen and, well, I guess you know the rest. Either way, even if we do lose Tornado, I'm not betraying the Regime! So many ponies have been lost already in all sorts of ways; they've died, been captured, gone missing, or just straight-up turned against us. It only seems to take more and more of a toll on Tornado Bolt's mental state; she's been let down one too many times."

This time, only silence came as a response, the two young mares exchanging concerned glances; neither of them really took a liking to Tornado's new aggressive, untrustworthy façade, but she seemed to have a reason for it. Everypony had been through so much, even her.

Finally, Dinky chose to speak up, "Well, what're you going to do if she survives?"

"Then I'll probably just stay with the Regime anyway and work alongside her, like I always do. I'm loyal to the Regime and I always will be, nothing can change that." Again, there was a long pause, before Rumble let out a sigh and turned towards the corridor, "I think I'm gonna head down to the infirmary to check how Tornado's doing."

"I'll go with you." Scoots replied almost instantly. "I mean, I-I'll just show you where it is. Dinky, you coming?" The unicorn shook her head briefly, "Nah, I'm gonna head back to the gym and practice a bit more with Stone Cold, see ya!"

And without another word, the lavender mare galloped off down the hallway, Scootaloo leading her companion down a hallway in the opposite direction. The orange mare couldn't help but feel a strange feeling of excitement of being alongside the stallion; ever since she was a filly, she'd always had sort of a crush on the Pegasus colt, but forced herself to always hide it, she'd never expect a daring colt like Rumble to ever fall for a flightless Pegasus like herself.

"So, how have things been going here in the Resistance anyway?"

Scootaloo was startled by the sudden question, but quickly regained her composure and responded casually, "Nothing much, we recently lost our former leader, Fluttershy, better known as Brevity Thrash, to the Queen. Not too long ago, some random Earth stallion named Stone Cold showed up and saved the whole Resistance when the Spark Republic ambushed in the middle of the night without warning. Everypony chose for him to take the place as the Resistance's leader for the time being, but I don't agree with it."

"Why not?"

"I dunno, for one thing, he's an Earth pony of all things! An Earth pony as our leader? Are you kidding me?!"

"What's wrong with an Earth stallion leading the Resistance?"

"Look at the facts, Rumble! Earth ponies don't have wings, don't have horns or any kind of unique magic really, and without their guns or bow-and-arrows or whatever, they're totally useless to the team!"

"Hm. You didn't seem to think such a thing about Applebloom."

This time, Scootaloo was silent for about an eternity, before casting a brief, cold glare back at the stallion, "How do you know about Applebloom?"

"I don't really, but me and Tornado use to visit this place all the time back when we were kinda allianced together, Applebloom, a yellow Earth mare I believe, was almost always there and she seemed to have a rather close bond with you. You didn't think _she _was powerless, did you?"

"Well, no…but she was different. She was my friend and I knew her since we were little fillies, she _was _one of the strongest members here, she always used these little plants called Poison Joak to her and our advantage. It'd cause strange things to happen to our enemies and, sometimes, even kill them. Either way, she knew how to use sources straight from the Everfree Forest to get us out of the tightest of situations, as represented by her cutie mark."

"What happened to her? We never see her around here or even wandering the streets anymore, and now, you're always tagging alongside Dinky Doo."

"Yeah, because AB set off into the Everfree Forest to find more Poison Joak to use in a potion, some kinda substance she'd add into a bomb-like structure which would spread the Joak's effects for miles upon miles all around. But when she left that day, we never saw her again."

"I've heard of Poison Joak, it randomly distorts ponies in "funny" ways whenever they make prolonged contact with it. You think she might've…?"

"Hey, look, we're here!"

The stallion was a bit startled to find that they were already at the infirmary, a rather large area that appeared as a makeshift hospital. There was a large rectangular window beside a steel door with a electronic pad beside it. Scootaloo rested her hoof over it, and with a green flash, the steel door slid open, allowing the Pegasi inside.

"Whoa, what was that?"

"It's a DNA reader, they're all over the base and only respond to the DNA of known members of the Resistance. If an outsider attempts to gain access through one, like you or Tornado Bolt, it'll lock up and not let anypony in for a number of hours. It's a bug that hasn't quite been worked out yet."

"We don't have this in the old weather factory. Heh, it's weird, Tornado Bolt literally trusts _nopony, _but still leaves the facility as vulnerable to attack as possible." They trotted throughout the white corridors, noticing many ponies admitted into the place; some about their age, others much older, more around the Queen's age.

"What happened around her?" Rumble questioned rather abruptly. "The Resistance is mostly ponies from _our _generation, how'd all these older mares and stallions end up here?"

"It's not like ponies Fluttershy's age would naturally be dead around this time, Rumble. And it's not just battle injuries, this whole base is climate controlled and airtight, so germs tend to spread like wildfire. Most infirmary workers or, well, _anypony _wears a mask when visiting the infirmary, whether they're sick or not."

"Climate controlled? Airtight? But, isn't this whole place just what's left of Sugarcube Corner? How'd it end up underground in the first place?"

Scootaloo couldn't but smirk slightly. "You ask a lot of questions."

"Heh, sorry, it's just…I'm trying to occupy my mind a bit, y'know, after what happened to Tornado."

"Yeah, I got it. Apparently, the place was built on soft ground originally, the whole of Ponyville was for some unknown reason, but it remained strong enough to support this place for about one hundred years. Even then, it practically turned into quicksand as time passed, The Cakes and Pinkie Pie eventually abandoned this place, and in a matter of years, the place was half-buried. Nopony knows why exactly. We managed to revise the place when we took it as our new base, and you know the rest."

"Ugh, well, this is just crazy. Ponies never use to die and get hurt all the time when we were foals, and even now, I can hardly get use to it."

"Yeah, me neither, but we're gonna have to. I don't think anypony expects this whole thing to end anytime soon. I thought I said a few days ago that we were head out and end this thing once and for all, but I guess a whole lot of other things got in the way of our leaving. More death, more fighting, more unwanted ponies all of a sudden coming in."

"You are so…weird, Scoots. One second, you're all welcoming and friendly and…"

"Friendly? Pfft, you wish!"

"Yeah, sure, but the next, you're acting just as bad as Tornado does sometimes."

"Weird, Dinky said that same thing on the way up here to meet with you. Hey, I think that might be where TB's at!" Scootaloo pointed an orange hoof towards one of the rooms, a large window on the wall giving them a slight view of what was going on within it. A light grey laid on the bed, a couple layers of bloody bandages wrapped around her abdomen, visibly immobolizing her battle-scarred wings.

A few doctors were within the room, appearing to be monitoring Tornado's condition closely, a few machines here and there within the room hooked up to the young mare, her pulse being monitored through a heart monitor visibly slowing down.

The Pegasi exchanged unnerved glances before trotting towards the room, only to be stopped at the door by one of the nurses, a navy blue unicorn mare. "Hey, what're you two doing here? You aren't allowed in this room right now."

Both of them were taken aback and Rumble couldn't but abruptly become aggressive towards her, "Why not?" To the stallion's surprise, the unicorn responded in a calm and collected tone, "Because your little friend there is currently in critical condition and we're still trying to stabilize her condition. If we don't, she could die, do you understand?"

"But we _need _to see her, do you even know who you're dealing with? She's the leader of the Cloudsdale Regime and I'm her deputy there; I have a right to…" Suddenly, he was cut off as a younger snow white Earth mare abruptly came out from the room.

"Um, n-nurse?"

"Yes?"

"S-Something's…wrong, and we need you in here."

This time, Scootaloo spoke up before the unicorn could, "What're you talking about when you say 'wrong'?" It quickly became clear to the young Pegasi that Scoots' abrupt aggressive tone was enough to frighten the answers out of the young Earth pony.

"I—I don't know, it's just…everything was going fine, and then all of a sudden, her heartbeat stopped altogether and…we can't seem to bring her back."

**Cyan Skies, a member of the Cloudsdale Regime mentioned earlier as one of the two mares working to fix up the old weather machine, is a canon BG filly who only appeared once in the show (from my knowledge). She shares Tornado Bolt's entire colour scheme excluding having a dark teal coat and a gold lyre cutie mark (I think). Here, she's a very minor Regime member and the half-sister of Tornado.**

**Brick/Stone Cold is one of the OCs suggested to me by warriormaster47. I'm hoping I represented his personality correctly (so far), feel free to inform me if I didn't, warriormaster47.**

**Don't worry, I'll add in the rest of the OCs into the fic as I go along, possibly one at a time, but I'm not totally sure yet. Also, I decided to give a little background to other characters and what exactly happened to what's left of Sugarcube Corner in this fic through Rumble's curiosity. The same goes for the fact, in an earlier chapter (two, I think), Scootaloo suggested they leave the base and head to the Capital of the Spark Republic, and I went way out of that idea as I went along, so I decided to make "a bunch of random crap occupying the Resistance" as an excuse.**

**I've finally beaten writer's block (yay), so I'll probably be uploading new chapters a lot more often now. The next one, I'm planning on finally making the Resistance set out for the Spark Republic and maybe bring back Applebloom and Sweetie Belle (I said I would earlier but got off track again).**

**Oh, and I'm trying to avoid using words such as sh*t and f**k as often as possible. I know I rated this M, but even on highly rated TV shows they censor those two words, and I just don't feel right making MLP:FiM characters use those words.**

**And no, Tornado Bolt isn't permanately dead, she's just sleeping. I mean, I'm planning on bringing her back here soon and maybe kill her off later on to give her a little more character development before I permanately kill her. Alright, please enjoy, no flames, feel free to review and maybe give constructive criticism and all that sh*t, stay tuned for chapter five! XD**


	6. Chapter 5

**Alright, before I begin this chapter, I want to tell any readers of it that OC requests are now closed (I don't know if its temporary or not). Not because there's something about the OCs I'm getting that I don't like (so far, I'm liking the idea of all of them), but it's just that there's currently a lot of them and I've only added one of the ones that have been requested and by now, there's a whole lot more that I'll add in later on and I'm still looking for the right time to do so. **

**I'll probably allow the requests again depending on how long I'm expecting the actual fic to be (20 chapters is probably a minimum). But for now, I'm not accepting anymore OCs for the fic until I get the ones that have been requested currently taken care of. This chapter only has a few mentions of the OC Brick/Stone Cold, but I'll probably add him and maybe one or two others in the next chapter. Alright, read on!**

_Where am I? _Who _am I? What's going on?_

_Blood, there's blood…everywhere…_

_Hey, there's another pony…maybe he knows what's going on…_

_Wait, that pony, he's…dead_

_And I think…I killed him…_

_He's wearing…armour…it looks strong…_

_And he has some kind of weapon…_

_Maybe I should take it…maybe it'll help me out…_

_There's a noise…it sounds like hoofsteps…they're headed in my direction…_

_Maybe they can help me…but something tells me they can't, or they won't…_

_I don't know why, but I feel like I should run…_

* * *

The grey mare fiercely brought one hoof down on the enraged Changeling's head. It wasn't enough to kill him, but it managed to stun him long enough for the young Pegasus to buck a nearby column, already cracking and slowly falling apart, just enough for it to fall, imprisoning the insect like creature beneath it.

_One down. _She thought to herself, smirking slightly to herself. But before she could react, she barely managed to dodge a rather large bolt of lightning that abruptly zapped towards her, managing to singe her mane slightly.

"Ow! Ugh, not again…" she muttered to herself, barely audible to any surrounding ponies. "Rumble, was that you _again?!" _Then, as if on cue, the pastel grey stallion hovered down towards her from a mass of dark clouds hovering far above them, smirking ever so slightly.

"Heh, s-sorry, Tornado, it's just that…"

"It's just nothing! This is the second time today you've nearly killed somepony with an errant lightning bolt! You can't be like that all the time or you'll really get us all killed!"

"Oh, don't be so feather-brained, Tornado! You and me have got everything under control around here! Pegasus anatomy is naturally built to be less vulnerable to being struck by lightning anyway because we deal with weather so often in our lives, so there's nothing to worry about!"

Tornado rolled her eyes with a slight scoff as she turned away towards the weather factory, staring at her companion out of the corner of her eye. "Yeah, you're just lucky that was just a couple of Changelings instead of a whole swarm!"

"Changelings?"—he glanced briefly at the trapped Changeling at his hooves, thrashing and snarling in attempt to escape and fight back—"Where did it even come from?"

"They came from what started this whole mess! They still linger around what's left of Canterlot even though Chrysalis is gone. Sometimes, well, _rarely_ they tend to "migrate" to our territory or the Resistance's. I think they work by themselves, but then again, you never know. The Spark Republic's base could be just too far away from here for them to reach."

"Maybe we could, I dunn, round 'em up and direct them to the Capital. It'd probably take out our whole competition in one wave! The Queen would have no choice but to surrender!"

Sudenly, the Pegasus mare was standing at his side, smirking slightly as she spoke, "I like the way you think, Rumble, always got a plan."—then her tone became more serious and grim—"But…it's not that easy, Rumble. The Changelings aren't on their side I don't think, they're _definitely_ not on our side, they never were. Their Queen is gone, which happened to leave the whole of Equestria in the malvolent hooves of an even worse one.

"But apparently, this isn't good enough. They still aren't in power and they won't stop until they are. Just like Queen Twilight. She has a damn lot of power, but this portion of Equestria isn't hers, not yet anyway. She has a lot of power, like I said, but isn't directly using it against us quite yet, but I know she will, we all do. I'm prepared for the final battle, everypony else, not so much. But if I have to fight her alone, I will, and I'll die at the hooves of her or her allies if I have to. Anything to make sure the Spark Republic doesn't win."

There was a brief pause before Rumble finally chose to speak up, "Uh, that's legit and all, TB, but what does that have to do with turning the Changelings against them?"

"That's the thing, we _can't! _The Changelings aren't allies to us, just another group that's trying to make each and every day harder for everypony. First, we have to defeat them, we won't be getting very far if we don't, and _then _we'll take care of anything and anypony that lies ahead."

"I—I don't…how…I, uh…I dunno, you're the boss."

"Exactly, now, c'mon!"

Without waiting for a reply, the mare opened her wings and soared off into the sky in what Rumble presumed was a random direction. "I…do you even think about what you're doing before actually doing it?" When no reply came, he only let out an exasperated sigh and began to fly after her, but as he did so, something began to feel…strange.

As he progressed, it only seemed to get darker and darker. Not in the way that it would as if the Sun was going down, more unnaturally. Eventually, all noise and light vanished from his vision, leaving him floating within a seemingly endless dark abyss. He couldn't make out what was going on, nor did he really want to.

Did he black out? Was he dead?

He opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, a strangely echoing voice abruptly spoke up, speakin his name is a hushed, familiar voice. He wanted to, and tried to answr it, but couldn't, eventually giving up.

Suddenly, the empty blackness faded to reveal a new area, the sound of hoofsteps and machines beeping and the strong scent of sanitizer wafting into his ears and nose. "Rumble! Wake up!" His purple eyes snapped open with a start, surprised to see a fiery orange Pegasus standing there, an urgent look etched onto her face.

"What the…? Where am I? What time is it?"

"Nighttime, Rumble, c'mon!" And without waitin for a reply, she galloped off, flapping her wings somewhat to pick up her speed, not even looking back to see if the stallion was following.

He rose to his hooves, rubbing his blurred eyes as he began to head out after her, the rhythmic beeping abruptly becoming strangely familiar. He was within a hospital room, where his companion, Tornado Bolt, had been admitted to.

He remembered now, he decided to hang out here to keep an eye on Tornado's condition after they finally managed to stabilize her once again; he must've fallen asleep. But mere seconds after he awoke, he somehwat wished he was still up in Cloudsdale, fighting the Shadowbolts or a horde of Changelings.

Anything was better than watching the unconscious mare lie on a bed and slowly die.

Once he finally managed to catch up with Scootaloo, he began to question her on what was going on. "It's the Killers again," she replied. "We—We need as many ponies as we can out there to help us fight!"

"Why? Is it really that bad?"

"No, it's _awful! _We're already losing and Dinky was fighting off some stallion who got ahold of her when I left. She told me she could handle it, but…I dunno."

"What about that Stone Cold guy you were telling me about? He's helping, right? Right?!"

"Y-Yeah, of course he is! Why wouldn't the pony who's trying to overpower the whole team be out there? Just to show us all how "great" he is?"

"Scoots, are you okay…?"

"I'm _fine, _why do you ask?"

"I…" But the young stallion only trailed off, watching as Scootaloo scanned her hoof to open the entry door. She was right about the Resistance losing the fight; most of their own were battered and limping or dragging themselves across the bloodstained dirt and grass, others splayed across the ground either unconscious or dead.

"What the hay happened here? Scoots?"

"I think it got worse after I left, but it looks like the fight's already died down."

"Scootaloo!" The two ponies were taken aback as a greyish white unicorn abruptly galloped towards them, her pink and purple mane a mess, her pale coat splattered red, and her mint green eyes wide and fearful. "Scootaloo! Sc-Scootaloo, we—we can't do this anymore…"

A few raspy coughs abruptly racked her body, nearly causing her to fall off her own hooves before Rumble helped somewhat to support her. "What're you talking about, Sweetie?" Scoots asked. "We won, didn't we?"

"H-Hardly, so many ponies…they're all injured, some are dead. Th-This is the second time…this week that they ambushed us. R-Remember…remember when you said we should leave? We…"

"That's a last resort though, Sweetie Belle! We can't just flee, the Spark Republic will think they've won and continue to take over what's left of Ponyville and Cloudsdale. And what about Applebloom? What if she finally comes back, only to find that we've abandoned this area and the place is taken over? She'll surely die then!"

There was a brief pause before the bloody unicorn spoke up again, "I—I don't think…I don't think Applebloom's coming back, Scoots." Scootaloo was taken aback and that sudden comment, "What? How do you know?"

"I just do, alright?" She let out a small sigh, having spoken a bit more forcefully than she'd intended to. "They're…they're going to keep attacking us…attacking our base until we're gone for good. It-It won't be long before—before you and Dinky and everypony else are gone too! And then…then the Spark Republic will win."

This time, Rumble chose to add to the conversation, "But…what about Tornado Bolt? She's still in the infirmary here and she'll never be able to come with us."

"A lot of ponies are, Rumble. I know they won't be able to come with us, everypony does, if they're so battered or straight-up comatose." Rumble opened his mouh to reply, but Scootaloo chose to interrupt him. "But we can't just leave them here to die or commit a genocide on all the sick and injured ponies!"

"If anything, Scoots, i-if anything, some ponies can stay behind to—to care for them and…follow once we're gone. B-But this place, it's too much of an open t-target to the Killers. At—At least d-discuss it with Dinky, because…we—we can't lose anymore ponies. We—We…"

But before she could finish her sentence, she abruptly sunk to the ground and fell unconscious at the stallion's hooves, visibly startling Scootaloo. "Sweetie Belle!" she exclaimed, a concerned, somewhat frightened tone in her voice.

"Don't worry, Scoots, she'll probably be fine if they patch her up in the infirmary. But, what exactly are you planning on doing?" Once he finished speaking, the Pegasus stallion grabbed Sweetie's scruff in his jaws as Scootaloo began to speak.

"She's right, Rumble, we can't stay here forever. We might as well be asking the Queen to send in the Killers to kick our flanks. I'm sure the rest of the Cloudsdale Regime can protect this area if we're gone. So, if Dinky's okay with it, we're leaving first thing in the morning."

* * *

"First thing in the morning?! Scoots, not many things you say make sense, but this is completely _feather-brained! _A lot of ponies are hurt, we can't just leave all willy-nilly!"

"I should've known you'd react like this."

"I…look, Scootaloo, I understand you want what's best for us and you want what's best for the others, but this…it's just way out of line! It's so sudden, nopony's even prepared quite yet, and staying here is a _whole _lot safer than trekking across miles and miles of Spark territory!"

"Says the one who I was forced to practically _fight _to keep from leaving."

The lavender unicorn let out an exasperated sigh, ignoring Scootaloo's comment as she retorted, "Look, Sweetie Belle probably had no idea what was coming out of her mouth! She passed out mere minutes after saying it! She was probably delusional or something!"

"_This _is why you aren't the leader around here, Dinky, you have no idea how to make decisions around here! I, for one, do!"

"We were second-in-command to Fluttershy, Scoots, and now I'm second-in-command to Stone Cold while you laze around all day with your little coltfriend, Rumble."

"First off, he is _not _my coltfriend! He's just a…fillyhood friend of mine, alright? Ruby Pinch was the same way to you, not like she's your marefriend or anything. Second off, who says Stone Cold is the leader here?"

"He's…just a temporary leader, Scoots, but if he can prove his loyalty to us, then he'll stay that way! He's a great fighter, he even served as a general in the army long before all this came up! I don't know what you've against the stallion who's saved our flanks more than once!"

"That's not the point! I'm just…" Suddenly, she broke off, one ear twitching towards a strange noise coming from the opposite direction. "Wait, what's that?"

"What's what?"

"That, don't you hear that beeping noise?"

Without waiting for Dinky to respond, she turned and galloped towards the sound. "Scootaloo, where are you going? Hey, Scoots, wait up!" A few seconds passed before she hastily galloped after her, both of them abruptly stopping in front of a strange device attached to the wall, a red light flickering on it in rhythym with the beeping, that only seemed to get faster once they arrived to it.

They both knew all too well what it was, and before either of them had a chance to run, it burst with a small fiery explosion that instantly became much bigger, turning into a massive fireball that took out the whole general area.

And then there was nothing.

**No, Sweetie Belle's not dead, she just passed out from a little blood loss. It's not a spoiler, she was never meant to die in the first place. Yes, the beeping thing was a bomb planted in the Resistance's base by some enemy of unknown origin. Not a spoiler, it was made perfectly clear when the damn thing **_**exploded. **_**No, Dinky and Scootaloo aren't dead (I don't think), they were just hit the hardest and probably battered up pretty badly. Not a spoiler, they're two of the mane (lel) focuses of this fic, so I doubt I'll be killing off either of the two anytime soon.**

**No, I have no idea what the first few italicized lines at the beginning that had no real connection to this chapter was all about. I hardly even know what I'm going to do with that. I wrote those few random lines in the form of an unknown pony's thoughts after blacking out and waking up not knowing where they are, who they are, and what's going on. It was part of the original beginning of this chapter, but I decided to split it up from everything else just to make it seem more cliffhanger-y. I'll probably do something with that later on, but I seriously don't know what.**

**Also, when Sweetie snapped at Scootaloo that she doesn't think Applebloom will be coming back, I have yet to decide whether I'm planning on that line connecting to Sweetie's knowledge that she's dead or she's just assuming this. Either way, I'm done for now. Please enjoy and stay tuned for the next chapter! XD**

**Oh, yeah, one more thing. Rumble's flashback-dream thing about himself and Tornado Bolt (again) was mostly just a filler for the beginning of the fic since, I had the idea for this chapter planned all out in my head, but had no idea how to begin it. I also didn't wanna make it some kind of cheesy cliche type thing either. Alright, now I'm done, stay tuned for the next chapter!**


End file.
